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Caribbean health agency urges action on antimicrobial resistance

San Juan, Dec 15 (EFE).- The Caribbean Public Health Agency has asked regional governments to implement plans to combat antimicrobial resistance, which threatens to undermine the effectiveness of treatments for common infections and injuries.

CARPHA, as the agency is known, said in a statement on Monday that a Dec. 9-10 joint meeting with Public Health England brought together regional health officers to reduce the threat of antimicrobial resistance in the Caribbean.

The workshop’s goal was to raise awareness of this issue to improve patient care and decrease costs.

“Antimicrobial resistance is made worse by the inappropriate use of medicines, which provides conditions for resistant microorganisms to emerge and spread, one way this can occur is when patients do not take the full course of a prescribed antimicrobial or when poor quality antimicrobials are used,” CARPHA said.

“Drug resistance to common diseases is increasing and is a threat to health and increased hospital cost,” CARPHA executive director James Hospedales said.

CARPHA identified various ways to combat antimicrobial resistance in the region, such as raising awareness, strengthening public microbiology laboratories and developing an action plan